In the past, others have used a variety of devices to cook food in an outdoor setting. The earliest method of cooking food was likely the open campfire, where food on a spit could be cooked over the heat of a campfire. Later, devices were developed for the cooking of food indoors on a daily basis. Such devices have evolved into the modern day range, which allows the baking of food in an oven chamber as well as the cooking of food on a griddle. However, the development of a similar range that could meet the requirements for use outdoors has always been sorely lacking.
Indoor ovens and ranges that are used everyday and that form the center of a kitchen can afford to be large, heavy, bulky and expensive. Their stationary positions in the kitchen and the resulting lack of any need for portability permits them to be heavy and non-collapsible. Furthermore, the fact that they are utilized on a daily basis allows them to be expensive. Moreover, they can be hooked to convenient supplies of energy, such as electricity to supply heating coils or natural gas to supply burners given their stationary position and the convenience of such energy supplies in an indoor setting. However, these indoor ranges are totally inadequate when one desires to use them in a portable fashion in a camping environment. As a result, there is a need for a device that can duplicate both the oven and griddle features of an indoor range, while at the same time permitting it to be implemented in a camping/outdoor environment. This can involve portability, collapsibility, low cost, low weight, durability, reusability, adaptability to a variety of fuels, low storage volume, compactability, etc.
A survey of other devices that have been proposed shows the unfulfilled need for an outdoor camping range. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,172,769 showed the need for a portable cooking apparatus as early as 1939. While this device permitted it to be used as a source of heat for a skillet, it nevertheless could not be used to accomplish the functions of an indoor range of providing an oven and a griddle. Furthermore, while it stated that it was portable, it nevertheless appears to require a great deal of effort to assemble given the numerous pieces required. A device which requires a great deal of effort to assemble or disassemble would not meet the definition of "portable" for the present invention.
Others have elected to provide either a griddle function or an oven function in their devices--but not both. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,923,229; 3,742,838; 5,144,939; and 5,176,124 did not provide a griddle. Similarly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,302,555 and 5,499,574 did not provide an oven (i.e., a chamber or compartment, as in a stove, for baking, roasting, heating, drying, etc.). As a result, an individual cooking with these devices would be limited in the types of food he or she could prepare. In fact, what most manufacturers have opted to do rather than provide either a griddle or an oven is to merely provide a charcoal grill (i.e., a grated utensil for broiling meat, fish, vegetables, etc., over a heat source). This can be seen for example in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,701,033; 2,201,756; 2,774,345; 2,855,918; 2,962,019; 3,131,686; 3,175,549; 3,421,433; 3,450,123; and 3,572,313. As a result, the cooking options available with these devices is severely limited. A camper is primarily limited to cooking meats that can be grilled over hot coals in the ambient air environment. However, it is apparent from the functions that can be achieved by indoor ranges that both the feature of a griddle and an oven in the same device is highly desirable--as it allows for the cooking of a variety of food at the same time. Given the need to make the most of one's fuel in a camping environment, simultaneous cooking on the griddle and in the oven would be extremely advantageous.
There is also a need for a device that can prepare certain types of foods. Oftentimes, an outdoor setting lends itself to an activity where a lot of people are participating. For example, on weekends or at special outings, there will often be a gathering of a large group of people. As a result, a portable device is needed that can prepare foods that will serve a lot of people at the gathering. For example, the preparation of turkeys or the roasting of a pig or other large quantity of food is often desirable at these types of outings. The drawback in the past, however, has been that a cooking facility was needed at the site of the celebration. Therefore, in the past, the provision of a cooking facility at the site where the gathering would take place was necessary. Often, there are sites that would be appropriate for a gathering, but that have no adequate cooking facility. Hence, there is a need for a device that can be easily transported to a remote location and put together so as to cook large foods or large amounts of food.
As noted above, a pig roast is often a desirable activity. In the past, however, it appears that the preferred way to prepare a pig was on a spit. This requires an open fire that can be difficult to maintain and could potentially be illegal in some places. Hence there is a need for a device that can provide an alternative method for the cooking of a food such as a pig.